


i was bored and you looked like the perfect rich jerk to annoy

by RosePerSomnium



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Socially awkward!Derek, annoying as hell!Stiles, bantering as flirting, kinda 5+1 times, or just bantering?, pre-Sterek - Freeform, who knows...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 17:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14982257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosePerSomnium/pseuds/RosePerSomnium
Summary: "You again." The same guy as last week had queued up behind him, grinning. "Happy to see me?" Derek didn't answer but got called out at once. "Ignoring me didn't work out that well last time for you, dude, but whatever..."orDerek hated grocery shopping. And since that annoying guy chose him to bother while waiting in line, it has only gotten worse. Or has it?





	i was bored and you looked like the perfect rich jerk to annoy

**Author's Note:**

> I finally feel comfortable enough to write and post in English, yay!  
> But if you have any suggestions for improvement (grammar, vocab or whatever), please let me know!  
> Any kind of comment is greatly appreciated!
> 
> On another note, I'm in the USA for the first time and noticed they don't actually have loyalty points around here, at least not like it's described in the fic, but that's the way it's done in Germany where I got the idea, so just bear with me, okay? :)
> 
> I hope you like it!

Derek hated grocery shopping. Too many people, too many options and far too many cheerful clerks addressing him. The only reason he still did it every week was that he despised the food Laura would buy more. It was a tough choice, and this was a particularly irritating shopping trip. 

Finally waiting in line, he expected some quiet before being faced with the cashier, but the guy behind him wouldn't quit trying to get his attention: First with talking at him, then — when he didn't react to that — with bumping his cart into him periodically.  
Derek's annoyance level rose. He considered just spinning around and scowling him into the ground, but Laura had made him promise to 'behave' in exchange for not coming with him. So he endured it. There was only one more person before him anyway. 

When it was his turn, he quickly stepped up to the checkout to escape the bumping. Unsurprisingly, the cashier beamed at him. "Did you find everything, sir?"  
"Yes."  
"Wonderful! This makes $ 51,83." 

He had already inserted his credit card into the machine, typing in his code, when she added, "Do you collect loyalty points, sir?" Of course she did. They always asked for one thing or another.  
"No." He always said no. He came for the groceries, not to donate to charity or win a flashy price. 

This should have been the end. But it wasn't because the guy behind him obviously thought he had been ignored long enough.  
"Yes, he does."  
"No, I don't," Derek answered promptly, courtesy of having two strong-willed sisters.  
The guy didn't seem fazed by that. "Better for me then, I will take them." 

The absurdity of this comment actually made Derek look at him for the first time. Lanky frame, graphic T-shirt, over-confident grin –– the very picture of a college student. Just his luck.  
Unconsciously slipping back into his own college persona, Derek raised his eyebrows. "After annoying me this whole time? I don't think so."

"Well, you ignored me when I was just trying to ask you," the guy tried to defend himself, still grinning.  
"And because nice didn't work out you thought annoying would."  
The guy just shrugged. "Yeah, well... Can I have them?"  
"No."  
With that, Derek turned back to the cashier who had watched the whole exchange with rapt attention, but before he could come up with a fitting phrase the guy behind him actually whined, "Come on, dude, you can't be serious!"

Derek was nothing if not stubborn — another by-product of growing up with his sisters — so with an arrogant head tilt he asked the cashier to give him the points please because he would like to start collecting them.  
The guy huffed, clearly annoyed, and muttered something, but Derek paid no more attention to him. He had kept the line waiting for too long already. So he grabbed his bags and the little flyer the cashier gave him, then stepped away from the checkout. But he couldn't resist pausing at the side to annoy the guy back.

He took a look at the flyer which had some shiny pots and pans on the front and read out loud: "Collect and enjoy. Collect a loyalty point for every $10 you spend and trade them in for wayfare cooking supplies. From $3.99 onward for just 40 loyalty points. You save up to 95% of the original price."

His tone had become more incredulous with every sentence. Finally, he lifted his gaze to see the guy watching him. There was no need for words. He looked him over from head to toe with disdain, then tossed the flyer onto the counter and left the store. 

The last thing he heard before the doors were sliding closed was, "What. A. Jerk." Well, this guy surely wouldn't bother him again.

***

"Did you know the average person spends six months of their life waiting on a red light to turn green?"  
Derek reflexively turned his head — and looked right away again, rolling his eyes. "You again."

The same guy as last week had queued up behind him, grinning. Seemed to be his default mood. "Happy to see me?"  
Derek didn't answer but got called out at once.  
"Ignoring me didn't work out that well last time for you, dude, but whatever... Did you know one out of five adults believe aliens are hiding on our planet, disguised as humans?" 

Derek turned around again, exasperated. "Do I look approachable to you?"  
The guy blinked innocently. "No, not at all. But I made it my mission to always talk to the grumpiest person in the store." He made a show out of looking over to another lane, making Derek follow his gaze to a sour-looking woman reprimanding the cashier.  
Derek glared at him, which made the guy grin even wider in response. "Yep, you are the right choice." 

There was nothing to say to that, so Derek didn't. If he stopped adding fuel to the guy's fire maybe he would stop bothering him.  
But first, he had to suffer through having every semi-interesting 'Did you know?'-fact the guy could think of being talked at him. For the whole ten minutes waiting in line — and when had all those people started going grocery shopping at the slow-going time he had figured out so carefully? — they were thrown at him, the lulls between facts getting longer, the topics getting more ridiculous with time, but still coming.

It might have actually stopped around minute seven if Derek hadn't reacted to the guy proving that apparently, one couldn't hum with one's nose closed, by (far too loudly) humming the star wars theme and then holding his one closed.  
Derek couldn't help himself huffing a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. This guy knew no shame or sense of public decency. 

But finally, it was his turn, and he had already accepted the thought of giving away the loyalty points without resistance this time when the cashier scanned his last item — a pack of bubble gum he definitely had not put there. 

Pulling out his credit card he sent an inquisitive glance in the guy's direction. "Care to explain?"  
The guy nodded friendly. "You were just a dollar short of another loyalty point."  
"The ones I'm not collecting."  
"Yeah." 

Derek inhaled deeply, held his breath for a second or two and exhaled slowly. Typing in his code, he told the cashier he would like to have the loyalty points for his purchase, please.

He then handed over both the points — that were actually little smiley face stickers with dollar signs in their eyes (of course) — and the gum to the guy who took them with a somewhat surprised look. "Here you go, kid."  
"I'm nineteen."  
Derek examined him. "Hmm, maybe physically." 

With that, he picked up his bags while the guy muttered about not being taken seriously and rummaged for something in his pockets.  
A few seconds later, he held out two one-dollar bills. "For the gum."  
Derek smirked at him. "Thanks, but I don't take money from the poor. Have fun blowing bubbles." He walked away, feeling in control for once.

As the doors slid open for him, he looked back. The guy was staring at him with a flabbergasted expression. "I'm not poor!"  
Derek gave him a doubtful look and left the store.

***

"I am not poor. I may not have much, being a college student and all, but I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking."  
"I wasn't," Derek said over his shoulder, without even looking back. A week had gone by, but clearly, his comment had hit hard.  
"But I wanted to tell you. Anyway, thanks for last week. I just couldn't pass the chance of getting that many points at once."

Derek glanced at the guy's cart. "If you are not poor and want the points, why don't you buy more than three days worth of food?"  
The guy looked confused. "How the hell should I know now what I want to eat on the fourth?"  
"You don't make a meal plan for the week?" Derek asked disbelievingly.  
"No, of course not. Why would I?"  
"To know what to buy."  
"But I'm not. Buying for the week, that is. I'm here every other day, buying whatever I'm in the mood for."  
"Sounds... spontaneous."  
"Don't say it like that's a bad thing. At least I've got surprises. Your way is just boring."  
"I am sure it seems like that to a kid like you." Derek couldn't resist smirking.  
"Stop calling me that! And why do you buy so much every week? Got a whole family to support?"  
"No, there's only two of us right now."  
"Of course there is..." the guy muttered, looking to the side for some reason.

When he didn't start speaking again but seemed to be lost in his head, Derek turned back around. What was he doing, bantering with an annoying college kid? There wasn't anything else connecting them than some stupid store offer.  
Laura could never hear about this. 

To get a better grip on himself, he focused on getting his shopping done — noticing for the first time that the line hadn't moved much since he queued up. Frowning, he took a closer look.  
There were still five people in front of him, all with full carts. This would mess up his whole schedule for the day.

"So, last night I was reading about werewolves," the guy suddenly said, snapping Derek out of his musing, "and isn't it interesting how the folklore developed over the last decades? They went from normal humans who turn into killing monsters once a month to people who can control the shift, not being bound by the moon, not killing anybody, just being a bit furrier than average once in a while.

"And the way they fall in love isn't a tragedy anymore but more like a fairytale — finding the 'one' and that's it for the rest of their lives. Not in the creepy manner of Twilight of course, but Stephenie Meyer got everything wrong, didn't she? Why the hell would vampires sparkle in the sun?"

Derek, who had turned his head a bit to show he was listening — why was he listening? — frowned. Vampires? Wasn't the guy rambling about werewolves just a second ago? For whichever incomprehensible reason? 

"And why would they go out into the sun in the first place? We all know they're a broody, nocturnal kind, blessed with eternity but cursed with an insatiable hunger for blood.  
"Did you know the whole myth about vampires was probably at least to some extent born out of people's lack of understanding of decomposition? Corpses swell in the process because of gases and—"

At this new change of topics, Derek turned halfway to look at the guy who didn't seem to think anything was amiss. On the contrary, now that he could make eye contact he became even more passionate in his speech, using wild gestures to make his point clearer. 

"—the pressure causes blood to oose from the orifices, so they would look more healthy than ever while having blood all over their faces. All perfectly valid today, but in the past, people just made shit up when they couldn't explain something. It's the same with all the ancient gods, isn't it?"  
Derek's face became blank. Now he really must have been kidding him. 

"Thunderstorm? Zeus must be angry. Bad harvest? Haven't worshipped Demeter enough. They reasoned anything with the gods. Man, I wish we would still do that. No, I'm not terrible at getting the message, I only was in unrequited love with a girl for ten years because Eros hit me with an arrow when I was seven and she the most beautiful and terrifying girl I've ever seen... Have you ever been in love?"

There was an unexpected stop in the rambling and it took Derek a few seconds to react.  
"What."  
"Have you? Oh, you probably are right now, living with—"  
Derek interrupted him before he could start again, "How did we even end up at love? Didn't you start with... werewolves? For whatever reason?"  
"Sorry, was I talking too fast?"  
"Your speed wasn't really the problem, no."

The guy looked confused for a moment before catching on. "Oh, I was jumping between topics again, wasn't I?"  
Derek just slowly nodded once.  
"Sorry. I've got ADHD, can't really help it," the guy shrugged, "And by the way, our line moved, you might want to catch up."

Derek whipped around, embarrassed. There was a big gap between the last two people before him and himself. He closed it quickly to a warm chuckle from behind.  
"Don't worry, dude, happens to the best of us. I've been described as a plane crash more than once. You just can't look away."  
"Don't call me 'dude'. And that's not... a very flattering way to be described as."  
"No, but... it's okay. It fits me. And I wouldn't know a better way to describe myself."

Derek hesitated but didn't see a harm in sharing his thoughts. "I don't think you're comparable to a tragedy. You're more like... the people doing arts or music at public places. Annoying but interesting, so you want to know what's going on but don't want to encourage them."  
The guy blinked at him. "That's... the nicest description I've ever heard about myself. Thank you. ... But I hope you know you are encouraging me, telling me that," he ended, grinning. 

Derek rolled his eyes. "I take it back, then. So, does me turning out to be a nice person disqualify me from your 'grumpiest person mission'?"  
The guy tilted his head to one side. "My 'grumpiest'... Oh! No. No, I'll have you know saying one nice thing doesn't make you a nice guy. And anyway, there's always the second criterion."  
"Which would be?"

"Hotness. And damn," the guy checked him out lazily, making Derek's ears turn hot, "you're definitely a twelve. Think nobody outside of Hollywood could top that."  
"Thanks... I guess," Derek said, turning away.  
When did he turn around in the first place? This changed fast from an amusing banter to... something too body-related for his comfort. 

The guy seemed to have noticed because he didn't make a comment about Derek's ears which he knew must be glowing bright red.  
In fact, he said nothing at all until Derek was next in line and asking the cashier if she too had noticed it was getting busier around this time of the week.  
"Yes, that's right, sir," she said, smiling, "I don't why, but it sure has."  
Derek nodded, waiting for her to scan all the items. 

"Does that mean you're gonna change your time?"  
The guy was watching him.  
Derek raised his eyebrows. "Why? Scared for my points?"  
"Something like that."  
"Well, with you being here every other day I'm sure you'll catch up," Derek smirked.  
The guy made a face at him, but the tension from earlier was gone.

***

"Ha, I knew you wouldn't change your routine that easily!"

Derek turned to a triumphant grin and shrugged. "Never said I would."  
The guy pouted at him, making Derek smirk. "So, what is today's rambling topic? Or the topic you're starting with, at least, before getting distracted..."

"Ha ha. ... See my shirt?" He pointed at the glaring yellow words on his black T-shirt, saying The sass is strong with this one. "Today's movie night with my best bro and he still refuses to watch the Star Wars movies, so I'm wearing a graphic T-shirt every time we meet up to wear him down." 

Derek looked him over with one eyebrow raised. "Isn't that how you always dress?"  
The guy seemed surprised for a moment before grinning. "Were you checking me out?"  
"W-What?," Derek sputtered, "I did no such thing. It's just really hard to blend out. Last week's Who's your daddy? was written in bright pink!"  
"A-ha." The guy nodded in an exaggerated placating manner. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." "It's not a se- You know what? It doesn't matter." 

He turned back around abruptly, making him grimace. It always ended like that. People got interested in him because of his body — and then he messed it all up with his stupid social awkwardness he just couldn't seem to overcome. Not that he liked the guy in any way, it was just... nice to banter with someone (other than his sisters who knew all his weak points). 

But now, due to his awful social skills, he probably wouldn't get to do that anymore.  
Not if the guy's apology was anything to go by. "Sorry. ... I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable... again."  
"It's okay." 

There was silence.  
Again.  
But Derek didn't want the guy to feel like he had done something wrong. Or that the playfulness wasn't welcomed. So turning his head a bit for a sense of privacy, he quietly added, "I'm just... really bad at flirting."  
No answer. 

He contemplated feigning he forgot something (which never happened to him) to escape the embarrassment when finally, the guy replied, "Well, I get really snarky and ramble even more than usual when I like somebody, so..."

Derek wasn't sure what to say.  
'Good to know'? — like he didn't care (and he wasn't ready to admit that he maybe did)?  
'So you like me?' — fishing for appreciation for the sake of answering?  
'Would you like to exchange numbers?' — no, definitely not, he wasn't the one to take the first step. Ever.  
So he said nothing at all. 

The silence stretched on for too long, uncomfortable in its unusualness. Three people in his line got tended to, but there were still as many before him. It really had gotten crowded. Well, if their tentative bonding couldn't recover from this, he would have no more excuses not to change his schedule. But he wanted them to get through this.

Trying hard to think of something to nudge some rambling, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Do you like to cook? The points are for cooking supplies after all."  
Looking over his shoulder, he saw the guy lightning up. 

"Yes! Yes, I do, actually. You know, my mum died when I was a kid and my dad had a hard time coping, like really hard and I grew tired of takeout and frozen meals, so I just started to copy her recipes. Well, I was trying to copy them. I sucked at first. Obviously. Then got something edible on the table at least. But it made––" He came to a sudden stop. "Sorry. I'm doing it again."

Derek turned around halfway, shrugging. "I don't mind. You kind of get used to it."  
The guy blinked at him for a long moment, then seamlessly continued, "It made me feel closer to my mom. And I like to think the taste of the first well cooked meal shook my dad up enough to get a hang of himself again and we learned how to grief together. So it kinda started out as a coping mechanism but then..." 

Maybe 'You kind of get used to it' had been an understatement.  
It was nice to watch the guy talk about something he loved. His whole face seemed to glow with passion, his flailing got worse than ever (making Derek wonder about the state of his kitchen after cooking) and anyone not knowing him would probably get annoyed, but after the last few weeks of getting to know him — for Derek — it just added to his charm to finally see him being serious about something.

In fact, the guy got so into it he rambled right through Derek purchasing his groceries, handing him a candy without remorse this time and accepting the points with just a quick smile as thanks.  
Derek didn't leave.  
Not when the guy just got to the part how he absolutely needed these new pots and pans due to his former ones being misused to the point of no recovery last semester during that awesome frat party where... 

It wasn't until they were standing next to a battered up baby blue jeep that the guy wrapped his story up. "... and cleaning up after cooking will be so much easier with new isolated supplies, so... yeah, I like cooking."  
Derek smirked. "You do?"

The guy made a face at him, making Derek laugh. "As nice as it was to listen to your whole life story" — the guy protested weakly — "the store already was busy enough to throw off my schedule, so I'm going to have to leave now. I guess I will see you."  
Waving awkwardly, he half-turned, looking for his own car, when the guy suddenly said, "Stiles."  
"What?"  
"That's my name."

"Oh, are we doing the whole introduction thing now? And what kind of name is Stiles anyway?", Derek asked, like every normal human being would after having overcome an awkward situation earlier.  
A grin spread out on the guy's — Stiles's — face. "A nickname, obviously, because my actual name is an unpronounceable polish monstrosity. That I didn't want to subject you to, ...?"

Derek returned the grin. "Good to know. But I really have to go, so... See you. Stiles."  
He turned around and walked toward his car, totally expecting the, "You were supposed to tell me your name!" being yelled after him.

***

"Sooo... Why don't you tell me more about your crush?"  
"I'm not crushing on him."  
"Yeah, tell that to someone else. Let's start with his name, shall we?"

Derek sighed, putting vegetables and fruits into their cart. "It's Stiles, which he only told me last week, so I really don't know much about him. And it's still not like that."  
She frowned. "What the hell is a 'Stiles'? And if he just told you, what did you call him before?"  
"It's a nickname. Obviously."  
"And...?"  
"... And I just called him 'the guy' in my head."

"Ha!" She pointed a finger gun at him, still just standing there, being snoopy. "When you can use such a general term for a specific person, you're definitely interested in them."  
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. I'm still not sure what you are trying to achieve with being here." 

That was the wrong thing to say.  
Grinning, she linked arms with him, totally ignoring his attempts to avoid it.  
"You might have forgotten," she began, definitely enjoying herself, "being high on endorphins and all but—"  
"I was not high on anything," he interrupted.  
"Your smile last week told a different tale. As I was saying, you might have forgotten but—"  
"You didn't because you would never forget anything embarrassing I ever did..." 

She shushed him with an impatient gesture. "It wasn't embarrassing, it was the cutest thing ever. Telling me you met someone at the grocery store, smiling like a love-struck idiot with those adorable bunny teeth of yours peeking out..."

He glared at her, unsuccessfully trying to escape her grip to better reach the dairy products. "That's not what happened." 

"Maybe not in those exact words, but the outcome is the same." She shrugged and rather let herself be dragged wherever he needed to go than let go. Sometimes she was odd like that.

He stopped for a moment. "I told you I overcame the differences I had with an annoying guy and that we had a nice talk. And I only did so to show you I can improve my social skills without a stupid course on overcoming social awkwardness."

She cooed at him. "Aren't you cute, all embarrassed by liking someone."  
"No. Laura. You're not listening to me!" he protested as she patted his arm soothingly.  
"Of course I am, and your pigtail pulling is equal parts adorable and vomit inducing, so let's stop talking about that."

"Most of the time we literally just snark at each other," he tried to explain once more, but she shook her head at him pityingly.  
"Oh Der-bear, don't you know that's your usual way of flirting?"

He threw his hands in the air. "Whatever. Can we go back to actually shopping now?"  
"Of course, yeah, let's do that," she agreed suspiciously fast, only to blow her own cover just a few steps later. "The sooner we get everything, the sooner we meet lover boy at the checkout, right?"

He didn't bother answering.  
They continued to walk through the aisles together, but she finally let go of him, prone to wandering around and grabbing whatever caught her attention.  
When she wasn't prying into other people's personal life.  
In that case, she held on like an octopus, with nails like a wolf's claws.

Derek watched her go hunting for junk food and smiled softly. He loved her, but she really knew how to drive him crazy. When she came prancing back with her arms full, he gave her a strict look. "What happened to only three junk foods a week?"

She let her conquests fall into their cart. "I'm just stocking up if I'm here anyway. I'm not gonna eat it all at once."  
"Are you sure? I'm not going through a weight crisis with you again."  
She rolled her eyes at him. "That was ages ago."  
"More like seven months."  
"Stop counting the time between my low points, Derek. You can keep these for me and only let me have three at once, okay?"

He sighed. "You're the older one, why do I always have to take care of you?"  
"Thank you, Der-bear!" With that, she bounced away, surely on the lookout for anything else he wouldn't bring home for her but stopped short a moment later, gushing, "Is that him?" 

Derek followed her gaze and, sure enough, that was Stiles studying the meat section. "How did you know?"  
"Because I'm awesome?" Laura grinned, then pouted when he lifted his eyebrows at her. "He might have been staring at you..."  
"Well, it is him, so please behave yourself for a second and don't embarrass me."  
"In front of a boy you're not crushing on...", she singsonged, but he felt he was already too close to Stiles to reprimand her.

He took a deep breath to shake off his dealing-with-Laura-mode and stepped up to the coolers.  
"Hello, Stiles."  
The teenager barely looked up. "Oh, hey, didn't see you there", he said to the turkey, making Derek frown. Laura had just caught him staring after all.

"How are you today?" he started the next attempt but was shut down again.  
"In a hurry, to be honest, so..." Stiles grabbed one of the packages, then took a few steps back. "Guess I'll see you."

Derek wasn't sure what had happened, but he didn't want Stiles to leave, so he called the first thing that came to his mind after him. "What about my points?"  
Stiles turned back around, gesturing impatiently. "Just give them to me next time or whenever. I really gotta go.."

"Derek. My name's Derek," he blurted out as his last resort, but all it got him was a strained smile.  
"Good to know. See ya." With that, Stiles disappeared toward the checkout.

Derek was still standing next to the coolers, frozen in confusion and disappointment for a long moment. 

To her credit, Laura didn't even try to talk to him before he looked at her with a sarcastic huff. "See? I told you there's nothing going on."  
She rolled her eyes without sympathy "Stop being dramatic. You two are obviously dancing around each other."  
"Obviously..." 

She lifted an eyebrow at his tone of voice. "But it seems as if you forgot to tell him about me..."  
"Why would I talk about you?"  
"So he would know you're living with your sister?"

He still didn't get her point. "And that's relevant why? It's not like I would invite him home, we haven't even exchanged numbers yet."  
Laura stared at him in disbelief. "You're hopeless. You should have told him, so he wouldn't have thought you're grocery shopping with an unrelated gorgeous woman." 

It actually took him a while to catch on "... As in dating you?"  
She sighed, staring up at the ceiling as if begging for patience. "Yes, Derek. He saw us teasing each other familiarly, and if you didn't tell him about me and acted even a little bit as baffling as I know you usually do with strangers, he easily could have come to the wrong conclusion."

He didn't respond to that and Laura let him brood in silence for once, actually helping to get the shopping done as quickly as possible.  
She didn't even say anything when he grabbed some kind of candy to raise the total.

***

Stiles missed their next two meeting times.

***

The third time, Derek saw Stiles in the cereal aisle. He hesitated, unsure how to approach, then threw all planning to the wind. The store offer ended this week, so it was now or never.

"Here you go," he said, awkwardly thrusting the collected loyalty points into Stiles's face.  
Stiles flinched, grabbing at his chest. "Oh my god, do you want to kill me?" He was breathing hard. "Let me tell you, there are easier ways to get rid of me."  
"Sorry."  
Stiles looked up. "Derek."  
"So you did hear me revealing my name."  
"Yeah, of course. I just..."  
"... had to go."  
"Yeah."  
Here it was again, the awkward silence of uncertainty. 

But Derek had nothing to lose today. "I think I never clarified that I'm living with my sister. Who wanted to come with me three weeks ago because I told her about you in a weak moment."  
"Your... sister?" Stiles froze in dawning realization, only his eyes moving. 

Derek couldn't help himself grinning, although apologetically. "I didn't even realize, but she implied you might have... misunderstood our relationship..."  
"Kill me now..."  
Derek huffed a laugh. "No need to be dramatic."  
"Dramatic is my middle name. As proven by me avoiding you for two weeks for going grocery shopping with your sister..."  
"You couldn't have known. And I probably wouldn't have taken your awkward flirting serious if not for Laura's observations that day."  
"You're calling me the awkward one?"  
"I didn't say I was better."

Stiles seemed to slowly gain his momentum back. "You know, I could never really tell if you were interested in me."  
"I was. I am."  
"That's good."  
Yet again, there was silence. 

Derek desperately looked for something to say, but Stiles beat him to it.  
"Wow, these are lots of points," he said, impressed by the number of stickers in his hands.  
"I may have stocked up on anything non-perishable..." Derek was embarrassed but resisted the urge to look away when he saw Stiles smiling at him.

"Thank you. I think that's actually enough to buy two sets. One for my own apartment during the semester and one for my dad's house for when I'm home. You know, he really has to watch what he's eating, but he's just––"  
"I know," Derek interrupted him, smiling back.  
"Because you actually listen to my rambling."  
"Yes. Like I said, you get used to it."  
"Still, I'm sorry for annoying you so much in the beginning," Stiles said, not very convincing with the way he was grinning.

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Just the beginning?"  
"Yes! After that, you got used to it."  
Derek laughed. "I dug that hole for myself, didn't I?"

"Hey, Derek?"  
"Yes?"  
"Would you like to meet up outside of the store?"  
"Do you know other stores with open offers?"  
Stiles shot him an annoyed look. "As a date."  
"Yes. I would like that."


End file.
